Conveyer.



T. A. EDISON. GONVEYER. APPLIGATIOh FILED NOV. 22, 1907.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

THOMAS A. EDISON,

OF LLEWELLYN PARK, ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

GONVEYER.

- To alt whom it may concern;

Be it known that l, Tnonas ALva'EnisoN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Llewellyn Park, Orange, county of Essex, and State ofNew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inConveyers, of which the following is a description.

My invention relates to apparatus for placing material on travelingconveyers. Where material to be conveyed is dropped upon a conveyor, aconsiderable amount of wear results, due to the friction developedbetween the material and the conveyer while the material is beingbrought up to the speed of the latter, and also, due to the impact ofthe material being dropped upon the oonveyer from above.

In my Patent No. 861,819. grant-ed July 30, 1907, I have shown a devicewhich obviates the first named difficulty by throwing the materialforward so that when it drops upon the conveyer it has the same speed asthe latter, and the wear due to the bringing up of the material to thespeed of the conveyer is thereby prevented. Still, by the device of thepatent there remains some wear on the eonvcyer due to the dropping ofthe material from above upon the conveyer.

The object of the present invention is to do away with the wear due tothis cause.

My invention is illustrated in connection with belt conveyers which arepassed over supporting rollers -so disposed as to form the belt in an Sor Z-shape, whereby material may be discharged from the upper run of thebelt through conveying chutes or may be discharged on to the lower runof the belt so as to be carried to the next station, but it is to beunderstood that the invention is capable of use wherever materialisdischarged .from one conveyer to a conveyer at a (lifferentlevel, orwhere material is placed on a conveyer from a position of rest.

Reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawing, forming a part ofthis specification, and in which the same reference numerals are applieduniformly to the same parts and wherein Figure 1, is a longitudinalsectional view of an apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is asimilar view taken at right angles to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a diagrammatic viewshowing the operation of the device disclosed in my former patent abovereferred to, and Fig. 4 is a similar diagrammatic view showingSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 22, 1907. Serial No.

Patented Oct. 22,1912. 403,300.

the operation of the improved device which forms the sub ect matter ofthis application. 1 represents a suitable conveying belt which is shownin connection with three discharge stations, 2, 3, and 4. I refer to therun 5 of the belt entering the discharge station and passing over theupper pulley 6 as the upper run of the belt, and the run 7 passing offthe pulley 8 and leaving the same discharge station, as the lower run ofthe belt. This arrangement is the same for each station. Any suitable,well-ltnown arrangement may be made use of to give the belt atrough-shape, so as to facilitate the handling of the material. At eachstation, I providea shelf 9, on which the material may be accumulated ina pile 10 (see dotted lines-Fig. 1), and 'extendingout over each side ofthe shelf are chutes 11, having vertical legs 12 which discharge into asuitable stock house.

From each of these legs the material will be formed into a pile 13,which when it becomes high enough will.clcse 'the mouth of the legslZ,and fill up the legs and chutes 11,

and fall upon the lower run of the belt to be conveyed to the nextstation. If, however,

it is desired to provide means at each station for cutting ofi thedischarge of the material through it, each chute 11 may be provided Witha suitable valve 14, (see Fig. "2) which so as to thereafter overflow onthe shelf 9 may be closed when it is desired to prevent the discharge ofthe material through the chute. In the device of my former patent thematerial is prevented from flowing di rectly on to the lower run of thebelt, but falls upon a rotating roller or paddle wheel,

by means of whiclrit is projected forward so that when it drops upon thebelt it has snhstantially the same speed as the latter, and no wear iscaused by bringing the ma terial up to the speed of the belt. Thematerial, however. in the device of the said patent, drops upon the beltfrom above, as 15 shown in the diagrammatic view in Fig. 3,

. and there is still some wear due to the dropping of this material uponthe belt.

In the device of the present application, I make use of the same rolleror paddle wheel, but I rotate this paddle wheel 15 in the directionshown by the arrows, which is the opposite direeti on from that in whichit was formerly rotated, and I provide a troughshaped guard 16, madepreferably of chilled iron, which is pivoted at 17 and held clcse to thepaddle wheel 15 by mean of a spring llO 18. The lower edge of this guardis very close to the conveyer belt and when the material is dropped uponthe paddle wheel from above and thrown forward from below, between thewheel and the guard, it passes directly on to the belt at the same leveltherewith, and with substantially the same speed as the belt, so thatthere is practically no wear whatever on the belt, due to the placing ofthe material thereon. The guard 16 obviously determines the quantity ofmaterial projected upon the belt by the wheel 15, since the thickness ofthe stream of material will be limited to the space between the guardand the body part of saidwheel. If, however, any large object (such asfrequently finds its way by accident into the material) should enter thespace between the guard and wheel, the former will yield against thetension of the spring 18, breakage.

Having now I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with the upperand lower runs described my invention, what ,of a belt, of means forreceiving material discharged from the upper run of the belt anddischarging it fo 'wardly upon the lower run of the belt in t cdirection of the travel of the latter at substantiallythe same speed asthat of the belt and from a point at substantially the same elevation asthe lower run of the belt, substantially as set forth a 2. In adevice'of the class described, the combination with the upper and lowerruns of a belt, of a stationary shelf for receiving the materialdischarged from the upper run and means located beneath the shelf forreceiving material discharged therefrom and projecting it forwardly inthe direction of and from a point at substantially the same elevationas,the lower run, substantially as set forth.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with the upperand lower runs of a belt, of a roller located between the upper andlower runs for receiving material discharged from the upper run andprojectingit forwardly in the direction of the lower run, a. pivotedtrough-shapcdguard for said roller, and a spring for holding said guardclose to the roller, substantially as set forth.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a conveyer, arotating paddle wheel above the conveyer, a pivoted guard normallymaintained in proximity to the paddle wheel, but movable away from thesame, and a spring for opposing such movement, substantially as setforth,

j o. In a device of the class described, the

so as to prevent injury orterial discharged from the upper run of thebelt, and acting on the material to discharge it forwardly upon thelower run of the belt in the direction of the travel of the latter andfrom a point at'substantially the same elevation as the lower run of thebelt, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a traveling imperfo'rate belt conveyer adapted tocarry a continuous stream of closely associated solid particles ofmaterial, a rotary drum or roller mounted adjacent the same, its lowersurface moving in the same direction as said conveyer, means for feedingto said roller a continuous stream of closely associated solid particlesof the width to be carried by the conveyer, said roller havingperipheral means adapted to cause the velocity of the roller to beimparted to said particles of material, and the same to be projectedupon the conveyer in a continuous stream, and means for rotating theroller with a surface speed substantially equal to. that of theconveyer, the arrangement of the roller with respect to the conveyerbeing such that the solid particles meet the surface of the conveyorwithout any substantial drop, whereby wear upon the conveyer due to thedischarge thereon of said particles is minimized, substantially as setforth.

7. The combination of a traveling imperforate belt conveyer adapted tocarry a continuous stream of closely associated solid particles ofmaterial, a rotary drum or roller mounted adjacent the same, its lowersurface moving in the same direction as said conveyer, means for feedingto said roller a continuous stream of closely associated solid particlesof the width to be carried by the conveyer, said roller havingperipheral means adapted to cause the velocity of the this 19th day ofNovember 1907.

THOMAS A. EDISON.

Witnesses:

FRANK L. Dyna, ANNA R. KLEHM.

